Fresh from our outdoor prep booth/driveway, our '70 Z28 Camaro heads for a new coat of Daytona Yellow, the original color of this well-worn road warrior. |
The key to any paint job is prep, and as any home hot rodder knows, the key to getting it done is often price. The idea was to prep things at home and to spend the time removing unpainted extras to make sure new paint doesnt cover everything. To begin, we removed the bumpers. |
We also removed all of the window chrome. |
Then we removed the rubber from around windows and inside the trunk as well prior to sanding the entire car with 280-grit paper to knock down "the big stuff." |
With the bumper brackets and other parts off the car, we painted them with Eastwood Underhood Black after cleaning them thoroughly. |
At Earl Schieb you can still get the original Schieb touch--that is grandson Joe Schieb in this case. Joe runs the Van Nuys, California, office for his recently departed grandfather Earl, and here he carefully assesses the extent of the major surgery about to be applied. |
Twenty-eight-year-old cars don't survive without body rot. As demonstrated here by Kevin Hughes, these reproduction '70 Camaro fenders from D & R Classic Automotive were the perfect fix. Earl Schieb shops don't specialize in the restoration of cars such as these, but minimal bodywork can be done at their facilities. In our case, they were kind enough to have their ace body man install both front fenders prior to priming and painting the car. |
The Camaro fenders unbolt relatively easy, exposing the lovely engine bay. We took the opportunity to change the heater core (another D & R Classic component) at the same time. |
By far the toughest chore here was shimming the body panels for final fit and finish. These reproduction panels fit quite nicely after some effort. The higher-priced GM repro fenders are even nicer. |
The Camaro required minimal bodywork, except for the fender replacements. For instance, there was a minor dent in the rear quarter. |
The repair started by grinding the dent down. Then it was filled with bondo. |
A small dent in the passenger door was pulled and patched in under a minute. Schieb moves quickly. |
Again, a light coating of bondo was applied to the door ding. |
The Camaro was sanded with 280-grit paper again and then taped off and primed. |
Schieb uses a water-based, OSHA-approved primer that can be sprayed out of the booth, sanded, and primed again and again until the finish is filled and coated properly. |
After final taping of all panels, the body was finish sanded with 400-grit. Prep is key here. |
Our ace Schieb painter Maurio Perez, who took over from our ace Schieb body man Jose Couarruba, tacked off the surface of the car to remove any errant particles of dust. |
Looking like a pseudo spaceman from an early 1970s B movie, he applied on the high-quality Schieb-formulated paint through the low-pressure spray gun. |
The spoiler and Rally Sport fascia were painted separately. D & R Classic Automotive supplied the fiberglass reproduction RS nose, replacing the original Enduro piece which had faded and cracked with age. Quick tip: Remove the side mirrors and paint them separately from the car. Otherwise, they end up with dry spots on the glass side. |
Fresh from the paint booth all taped off and ready to detail, the finished paint was allowed to dry for an hour before the paper was removed. A generous helping of overspray was cleaned up with more Eastwood Underhood Black and many window glass-cleaning razor blades. |
One of the newest components available for the '70-'73 RS Camaros is the new grille surround which fits within the front grille work. As most of these cars had severe rust and corrosion in the these areas, this part was a much-needed accessory. |
The body jewelry was next to go on. All new D & R Classic Z28 emblems, rechromed bumpers, and door handles were installed. The most difficult part of the installation were the new fender emblems which required unbolting the bottom of the fender and attaching new Pal nuts on the back of the emblem. The inner fenderwells were also repainted with Eastwood products. |
Looking for a major image upgrade? Nothing impacts the street crowd more than a fresh new paint job. While many of us are willing to rebuild an engine, the thought of hassling with paint just doesn't present the same appeal. And while the amateur painter may concentrate on color and how it's applied, the real key to a great paint job is preparation.
Here's the hot tip if you don't have $3,000 sitting idly in your jeans: Prep the car yourself. By removing the big parts and most of the chrome, masking what can't be removed, and sanding your car thoroughly with 280-grit sandpaper, you'll save yourself some serious cash. In addition, we filled the small chips in the paint with spot putty purchased from the local auto parts store, sanding them down flush after thorough drying.
Our next step was to find a local high-volume paint shop and have them complete the bodywork, prep, and then paint the Camaro. The Earl Schieb Paint & Body shop was close by, so we checked them out. While we were skeptical about the quality of the prep and even of the paint used, we were impressed with the final product which not only drastically transformed our '70 Z28 Camaro, but still looks good after three months of abuse. Best of all, the deal was $300 for paint and an additional $300 for the bodywork, plus the cost of the other parts we added. We feel we got the best end of that deal!
As the brochure contends, Earl Schieb's new Euro-Paint is based on the paint formulas used by European luxury car makers like BMW and Mercedes. It is 100 percent acrylic enamel which produces not only an excellent gloss, but offers great resistance to sun and environmental nastiness like bird droppings and fuel spillage. In addition, Earl Schieb backs the paint against fading with the best warranty in the business.
To complement our Camaro paint scheme, we relied on the folks at D &R Classic Automotive to supply some classic Camaro parts. Rust at the rear of the front wheel well opening meant it was time to change the front fenders. Two reproduction front fenders were ordered and installed by the Earl Schieb folks as part of the deal. In addition, we installed a fiberglass RS grille surround to complement the new one. The fiberglass unit replaced the original enduro nose piece which had warped so badly that the internal grille components were no longer housed completely within the surround.
In addition to the body parts, we completed the renovation of the Camaro with new RS bumpers, a full complement of Z28 emblems, a new heater core while the front fenders were off, and new window trim all around. The resulting improvement was nothing less than outstanding.
The final detail work took a great number of hours, as is the case with most paint jobs. We detailed under the hood, appropriately enough, with Eastwood Underhood Black and covered the underside with a D & R Classic underhood insulation package. The photos only do partial justice to the amazing difference this effort produced. Nice job guys.